NUPENG threatens strike over refineries

The National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) has said it will embark on a nationwide strike if the Federal Government goes ahead with its plan to sell the four refineries next year.

This decision was taken at the weekend during the National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of NUPENG in Okrika, Rivers State.

The union decried a statement credited to the Petroleum Minister, Mrs. Diezani Alison–Madueke, about the proposed sale of the refineries.

The National President of NUPENG, Comrade Igwe Achese, who disclosed this to reporters, described the decision to sell the refineries as unfortunate, wondering why Nigeria, the sixth largest oil producing country in the world, is in a hurry to sell its refineries, thereby mortgaging the future of its citizens.

He said what the Federal Government should do is to repair the refineries and stop the high cost of petroleum products.

Achese queried the condition of the refineries, which he said had obsolete equipment because “in the past 15 years they have not undergone Turn Around Maintenance (TAM). Therefore, the equipment have not been replaced.”

He said NUPENG has talked about TAM for the refineries for several years, yet nothing has been done.

“We keep talking about TAM for the refineries and bringing them up to work optimally. Year in year out we keep talking about TAM.

Up till now, workers are being trained to prepare themselves for TAM for the refineries.”

The NUPENG president urged “the Federal Government to reconsider the sale of the refineries because as a union, we will resist it.” He added: “Privatisation is not the solution to the high cost of petroleum products in the country as other Sub-Saharan African countries have discovered oil and this will affect the price of petroleum products in Nigeria.”

Achese said: “If we must sell the refineries, we must sit down at a table to cross the Ts and dot the Is, otherwise we will resist it as a union.”

Lamenting the poor state of the refineries, he said while it might be safe to say that the refineries were not working, which was why they were being sustained through the importation of petroleum products, “but you begin to ask, what of the crude oil allocated to the refineries that are no more coming to the refineries for refining due to a breakdown of equipment at the refineries?”